The full documentary can be viewed HERE. Josefina Bergsten is a producer of several social documentaries. Some of these documentaries are, “Unjust – a story of three surviving widows of three human rights activists who were assassinated in their countries”. They were, Munir Said Thalib from Indonesia, who was assassinated by poisoning while travelling in an Indonesian Garuda Airlines to the Netherlands; Mr Somchai Neelaphaijit, a senior human rights lawyer in Thailand who was abducted while travelling in Bangkok and thereafter disappeared; and Jerad Perera a Sri Lankan torture victim who was pursuing his cases before the courts and who was murdered while he was travelling to work by bus.

The Asian Legal Resource Centre wishes to inform you that ALRC along with its partners Janasansadaya, Sri Lanka; Human Rights Office, Sri Lanka; Right to Life, Sri Lanka; Gampaha Citizen’s Committee, Sri Lanka; and Rule of Law Forum, Sri Lanka; have submitted an Alternative Report on Sri Lanka today, 11 October 2016, to the Committee Against Torture of the United Nations.

It seems no progress can be made in Sri Lanka on the attitude to murder. Murder is now regarded as normal and therefore not something to worry much about. And, this is exactly what should worry everyone. But hardly anyone seems to worry about it. We see the same thing in the proposed Office of Missing Persons (OMP). The simple fact about a missing person in Sri Lanka is that he or she is dead. Very rarely, does a missing person re-appear. As in the case of the dead, missing persons normally never appear again. At least that is case in Sri Lanka, whatever the case may be elsewhere off […]

ALRC-CWS-27-02-2014 August 29, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty seventh session, Agenda Item 3, Interactive Dialogue with Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre SRI LANKA: Enforced Disappearances and Extrajudicial Killings 1. Although, technically speaking, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings are two distinct categories of gross violations of human rights, these two categories often overlap in Sri Lanka. Often, what get classified as enforced disappearances are kidnappings followed by interrogation, which often involve the use of torture and ill-treatment, followed by executions done in secret and, finally, the secret disposal of bodies. Despite several commissions looking […]

ALRC-CWS-25-06-2014 February 21, 2014 HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty fifth session, Agenda Item 3, General Debate A written submission to the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre SRI LANKA: The neglect of mass graves 1. A mass grave has been found at Thiruketiswaram, Mannar in January 2014. In 2013 a mass grave was also found at Matale and the investigations are still at early stages regarding the body parts found in this grave. The general condition prevailing, relating to both of these mass graves is that the investigations are not being conducted in terms of modern forensic methodologies which are essential for the proper preservation of the […]

Date: September 26, 2013 Document id: ALRC-COS-24-11-2013 HRC section: Item 10, General Debate Speaker: Ms. Answer Styannes A Joint Oral Statement to the 24th Session of the UN Human Rights Council by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) and Franciscans International (FI), non-governmental organizations with general consultative status SRI LANKA: Signs of heading in an increasingly authoritarian direction Thank you Mr. President, The ALRC and Franciscans International (FI) welcome the statement delivered by the High Commissioner at the end of her country mission to Sri Lanka on the 31st of August, 2013 in which she made the following comment: “I am deeply concerned that Sri Lanka, despite the opportunity provided […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 21, 2013 ALRC-CWS-22-09-2013 Language(s): English only HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty second session, Agenda Item 3, General Debate A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organisation with general consultative status SRI LANKA: The absence of action regarding complaints of torture and ill-treatment 1. The ALRC and its sister organisation the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has submitted to the government of Sri Lanka in 2012 a total of 46 complaints relating to torture and ill-treatment. All these cases related to serious assaults on persons after arrest and during the period of detention at police stations. The victims in these cases and […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 20, 2013 ALRC-CWS-22-08-2013 Language(s): English only HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Twenty second session, Agenda Item 3, General Debate A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organisation with general consultative status SRI LANKA: The need for the preservation and proper inquiries into the remains of about 200 bodies found in the mass grave at Matale 1. The ALRC and its sister organisation, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), have documented numerous cases of enforced disappearances to the state of Sri Lanka and to the UN Working Group. 2. The question of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka has been a matter of concern […]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PRESS RELEASE ALRC-PRL-002-2012 A Joint Press Release by ACAT France and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) SRI LANKA/FRANCE: Torture in Sri Lanka — when arbitrariness prevails (Hong Kong, June 26, 2012) Paris — Hong Kong, 26 June 2012. On June 26th, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, ACAT-France, in collaboration with the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), releases “When arbitrariness prevails” a new report providing an overview of the phenomenon of torture in Sri Lanka. The findings are devastating: three years after the end of the conflict between governmental forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) the use of torture and […]